Denver Mayoral Race: Labor/Collective Bargaining Rights
More than 20,000 members of various labor unions live in the city of Denver, at least 3,000 of whom are employed by the city as police, sheriff, and fire personnel. The collective-bargaining agreements that cover such civil servants in Denver are due to be renegotiated next year. Meanwhile, 4,000 or so city employees remain unprotected by collective-bargaining agreements and face potential furlough days or pay cuts as the city struggles to balance its budget.
The following insights into how each candidate stands on the potential expansion of collective-bargaining rights to all city employees are gathered from comments either made at two recent campaign events or published on-line or in printed campaign materials.
We’ve also included “Experience Potentially Related to this Issue” to provide pertinent suggestions of the skills and insights each candidate would likely bring to bear while addressing this issue while in office. Candidate names are listed in the order in which they appear on the ballot.
Michael Hancock Bottom line: Does not support the expansion of collective-bargaining rights to all city employees.
On his campaign website: States in a “Letter to Denver’s Dedicated City Workforce” that as mayor he will create a collaborative relationship with city employees via brown-bag luncheons, department meetings, and site visits. Also notes endorsement from Teamsters Local 17.
In his campaign flyer: No mention of labor issue
Issue-specific ideas or solutions presented at March 24 and April 6 events: Said it’s fiscally not appropriate to expand collective-bargaining to city employees at this time but promised to give city employees a seat at the table. He added he would also meet with city employees on a regular basis.
Issue-related comments: In the March 29 Denver Post article “Denver mayoral candidates wooing labor carefully,” a Hancock spokesperson was quoted as saying Hancock does not support expanding collective-bargaining rights at this time.
Experience Potentially Related to this Issue: • City Councilman 2003-Present --President 2006-2008 --Business, Workforce, & Sustainability Committee, Co-Chair --Economic Development Committee, Former Vice-Chair --Finance Committee, Former Member
Chris Romer Bottom line: Does not support expanding collective-bargaining.
On his campaign website: No mention of labor beyond posts about the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Local 105 and Denver Firefighters Local 858 endorsements of him for mayor
In his campaign flyer: No mention of labor issue
Issue-specific ideas or solutions presented at March 24 and April 6 events: Said the city needs to learn to do more with less and promoted engaging employees and partnering with the people to make sure public safety remains a number-one priority and voters are allowed to decide what they want and how they want to pay for it.
Issue-related comments: In the March 29 Denver Post article “Denver mayoral candidates wooing labor carefully,” Romer was quoted as saying as mayor he would not support the expansion of collective-bargaining.
Experience Potentially Related to this Issue: • Senator 2007-2010